ICC accused Kenya's new president
2013-03-09 09:12
Nairobi - Uhuru Kenyatta was elected Kenya's new president despite facing an international crimes against humanity trial, provisional election commission figures showed on Saturday.
Kenyatta took 50.03% of the vote, according to constituency tallies released in the early hours of Saturday, to become the African country's new leader 50 years after his independence hero father, Kenya's founding president.
The 51-year-old outgoing deputy prime minister - charismatic, able to appeal to all classes and one of Africa's richest men - is the first leader to take power whilst facing trial in The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC).
Kenyatta, whose first name means "freedom" in Swahili, beat by over 800 000 votes his opponent Raila Odinga, the 68-year-old outgoing prime minister who was on his third failed bid at the top job.
But Kenyatta, who won 6 173 433 votes out of a total 12 338 667 ballots cast, scraped through the 50% threshold needed to avoid a second-round run off by just over 4 000 votes.
Odinga trailed in second place with 43.28% with a total of 5 340 546 votes.
Once the results were released Kenyatta's supporters launched into victory celebrations.
As Kenyatta's supporters hugged and cheered in victory celebrations when the numbers were released, concerns were high as to how Odinga loyalists will react, five years on since a wave of bloodshed in which over 1 100 people were killed following disputed December 2007 elections.
- SAPA
